INTERVIEW: The Night Cafè @ O2 Academy, Liverpool

We spoke to The Night Café before their hometown show at O2 Academy, Liverpool on May 5th.

So, are you alright guys?

Sean: Yes, I’m good.

Carl: I’m not bad.

Arran: Yeah, good.

Josh: Yeah.

How’s the tour going?

Carl: It’s going great, yeah.

Sean: It’s been really good yeah, like every gaff we’ve been to, we’ve had a good response.

You guys have been making music since 2014, but how did The Night Cafe come about?

Sean: Well, we’ve been playing in bands since we were like 13; like all of us in different bands. And then it started off with me and Josh just wanted to start recording music, because he got a little 8-track thing for his birthday one time.

Carl: The early days.

Sean: So we started doing that and then we proposed the idea to Carl and Arran.

Carl: Yeah, because I remember when you came in and was like, “Do you wanna start a band?”.

Sean: And they liked what we were doing and that’s led up to now. It was very different when it was just me and Josh like, because now obviously there’s 2 more people doing their parts. But it’s much better.

What do you think you guys would be doing if you weren’t in a band?

Carl: I wouldn’t be enjoying life

Josh: I don’t know what I’d be.

Sean: A chef. Arran we’d be chefs

Arran: I’d be a chef with Sean.

Carl: I’d probably be a footy player or something, haha!

Sean: You could be to be fair, lad.

Carl: I could have, but I left it too late. But anyway, I didn’t want to do that, I wanted to do music.

Josh: I don’t know what I’d do but I’d most certainly be very sad.

Carl: Haha! That’s the right answer!

Do you have any pre-show rituals or superstitions?

Sean: Do you know what, we don’t, do we?

Arran: We don’t at all.

Sean: We knuckle-touch Rob before every show but that’s Rob’s rituals, because we don’t mind but Rob always makes sure he finds us like, “Where are they? Where are they?”

Carl: Yeah, every show we’ll knuckle-touch Rob. He’ll be like, “Have a good show, have a good show boys.”

Josh: I think just panic is our ritual.

Sean: Pre-show p***.

Everyone: Yeah, yeah.

Sean: There’s always a queue for the toilets as well.

Arran: Definitely a toilet trip.

Carl: A wee.

Sean: Yeah, a wee, sorry.

Your favourite song to play live?

Carl: I think I’m gonna answer for everyone on our behalf that, You Change With The Seasons is a heavy banger.

Josh: This tour, You Change With The Seasons has definitely been received the best.

Carl: Like this tour, we’ve been playing it last so people have been waiting for it the whole time and then when it comes on, everyone goes a bit more mad.

Josh: Everyone goes a bit more crazy.

Carl: But on karaoke I’d definitely say, Stayin’ Alive by The Bee Gees.

Sean: I’d say, Let Me Entertain You by Robbie Williams.

Josh: Have you ever actually done karaoke?

Sean: Yeah me and Carl do it all the time.

Carl: I have done yeah. I done Hero by Enrique Iglesias on holiday. That happened.

What do you guys get up to in your spare time?

Carl: Do you know what, spare time is just mainly practice and music. And whenever we’ve got spare time, we’ll just be in Josh’s or one of the lads, or in ours. We’ll just be making tunes like, 24/7.

Josh: We don’t really have much spare time but it doesn’t really feel like we’re busy all the time because we’re doing what we wanna do. We stay busy but we’re also not busy.

Sean: Yeah, that’s exactly it.

What’s the best thing about Liverpool?

Carl: Do you know what, considering everywhere we’ve been, like Liverpool’s just the best city in the world.

Josh: When we’re talking in between songs, sometimes people look a bit confused because they don’t understand the accent.

Sean: So here we can just let loose and speak normally. Because normally when we’re away, when we speak, we’ve gotta speak a bit like a Wool. (a ‘Wool’ means people who live in the proximity of Liverpool but aren’t actually from Liverpool) When me and Hannah were away, there was a Canadian woman sat behind us and she was saying, “I can kind of understand them, but not really.” But she was pointing at us.

You’re on your headline tour right now but you’ve supported some pretty high profile bands, like The Wombats and Sundara Karma. Were you ever starstruck when you’ve met anyone?

Carl: Do you know what, I don’t think we have, have we?

Sean: Not yet.

Carl: Like when we first got told we were going on tour with The Wombats, were like, “Woah!”, y’know a little starstruck. But when we met them, they were just proper genuine people. You do realise they’re just humans.

Sean: We’ve never like, looked at bands in that way as well.

Carl: I think that’s the sort of thing you’ve got to be like because I don’t think you can be like, “Oh my god, they’re famous.”

Sean: Yeah, because they wouldn’t like it, because if I was them and people were like that, people would want to meet you because of who you are and not what you’re vibing and what you’re into and I just wouldn’t want that.

Is there a big difference between your genre of music and who you listen to at home?

Arran: We do all listen to loads of different stuff.

Sean: We’ve all got a really broad taste in music. Like if it’s good, it’s good. It doesn’t matter what it is.

Josh: There’s also no such thing as a guilty pleasure either, you should be proud of what you listen to.

Sean: High School Musical soundtrack.

Josh: Exactly, the High School Musical soundtrack is heavily f****** sick. Camp Rock!

Carl: I don’t think there is an annoying one out of all of us. I think it’s Rob. Rob is the annoying one out of all of us. [Rob enters the room] Here he is!

Sean: Wouldn’t have that Rob!

Carl: Rob’s the annoying one on tour. Nah, but you all agreed before he come in!

Sean: No we didn’t, haha! Play it back!

Carl: Nah, but in your heads, you went, “Yeah.” But Rob’s a gem, Rob is a gem and we love him to death.

Sean: I think I was saying that because Rob’s the one who makes us get stuff done. Because we’re all lazy.

Carl: Yeah, we’re all lazy together. Aren’t we?

Sean: And it’s like when we’re leaving to go somewhere, like we’ll need to get there for a time. We are slackers when it comes to getting places.

Carl: Rob makes us get our stuff together. But overall there is annoying person.

What’s the best thing besides the sesh and the gaff’s?

Sean: Besides the sesh and the gaff’s?!

Carl: Probably when you see the people who are coming to watch your band.

Sean: That’s the best thing about a headline tour by far.

Carl: You see all these people who care about the band.

Sean: Like yesterday in Norwich, these 3 people waited outside after everyone had gone just to meet us and talk to us for a bit. And it’s like, they were so sound.

Carl: Yeah, they were really nice people.

Sean: It’s mad. I think it’s the meeting new people and knowing that they’re into what we’re putting out there.

Josh: We’re majorly based in the Travelodge as well.

Sean: Getting the comfy bed in the Travelodge. That’s the best thing.

Finally, what are your best jokes / chat up lines? Successful and not.

Carl: A good joke I once heard was, “Doctor doctor, I feel like a pair of curtains.” And then the doctor says, “Oh, pull yourself together.” [Slight sniggers in the background] My dad, big up to Carl James Dillon, because he told me that joke.

Josh: It’s sick.

That was great, thank you very much guys.

Carl: Thank you very much.

Sean: Thanks for that, Jade. Nice one, that was a very pleasant interview.